New Orleans rebuilds as a “boutique city”

The Big
Easy is undergoing its “biggest global moment”, according to New Orleans mayor Mitch
Landrieu. The US Super Bowl ,
held at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome
stadium on 3 February, lured more than 150,000 football fans to the Louisiana
city; while Mardi Gras, the city’s infamous street festival and parade, is
expected to bring in close to a million merrymakers when the month-long
festival ends on 12 February.

But just beyond
the boozy parade routes, travellers can catch a glimpse of the city’s pristine
new look. Riverfront neighbourhoods, miles-wide public spaces on the banks of
the Mississippi River and empty buildings due to the city’s slumped economy have
been rebuilt since 2005’s Hurricane Katrina to attract entrepreneurs, artists,
designers and creative-minded travellers.

“Now young people are not only visiting for just a few days but making
this their home for a lifetime,” said Sean Cummings, real estate developer and CEO of the New Orleans
Building Corporation, which works with the New
Orleans City Council to develop deteriorated or vacant public land. “The
city is a magnet again for new talent and new ideas, co-creating a new New
Orleans.”

This trend has led Cummings to dub New Orleans the world’s newest
“boutique city”. “It has nothing to do with boutique hotels or clothing
boutiques,” he explained. “A boutique city stands for something. It’s original.
It’s authentic. It’s one-of-a-kind.”

He is currently spearheading
Reinventing
the Crescent, a multi-phase initiative to develop six miles of the
city’s under-used riverfront into tree-lined public promenades and outdoor
recreation spaces.

Crescent
Park, the first project, which started in 2010 and is still under construction,
aims to add landscaped pedestrian paths, bike routes, playgrounds and two event
venues to the Bywater district.
In less than a year, this riverfront enclave of glass storefronts has
become New Orleans’ trendiest neighbourhood, packed with independently-owned restaurants,
such as Satsuma Cafe and Pizza Delicious, and
art galleries, such as Bon
Castor and May Gallery.

Cummings is
also working on Bywater’s residential
sector. The Rice Mill Lofts, a
riverfront apartment complex that Cummings plans to turn into a
hub for creative-types looking for long-term vacation stays in New Orleans, was
built in 2011 using reclaimed wood from the Mississippi River and is decorated
with graffiti leftover from when the building sat vacant after Katrina. In
October, the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra put on a live concert atop the Rice
Mill Lofts; a free and open-to-the-public jazz tribute to The Beatles, The
Grateful Dead and Stevie Wonder.

“It's a gorgeous [warm] 70F in February,” Booty’s co-owner Kevin Farrell
said. “You can grow anything under these conditions, especially a good idea.”